An Article published in the Little Milton Newsletter, October 1979
THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS OF
LITTLE MILTON
There is much that can be said about the buildings in Little Milton and we are very fortunate to have so many that are 18th century and older in the village. These buildings stand as a monument to two periods of great prosperity in the village’s history, while the lack of 19th century housing is a witness to times of poverty, unemployment and social upheaval that threatened the village’s very survival.
The
Civil War in the 1640’s, and particularly the nearby battle of Chalgrove
Field, left great destruction and loss of life in the villages and hamlets of
Oxfordshire. It was to be many years before any new houses were to be built in
Little Milton. The first new house to be built was probably that of Well’s
Farm Cottage around 1691. There followed in the next 100 years one of. the most
rapid periods of growth in the village’s history. Exactly how many houses were
built in this period is difficult to say, but there are at least 30 buildings
dating about this period in and around the village. It is easy to recognise the
earlier 18th century buildings by the lack of brick work around the frames and
corners, the Lamb and the Post Office being examples. Brick, which was only used
around window and door frames, corners and chimneys arrived much latter and can
be seen in many houses in the village.
The
High Street has always been an active business area, since this area formed part
of the main route between the old market towns of Wallingford and Thame. There
existed well before the 18 century another road which passed through the
village. This road came from Watlington along the Haseley Road, through the
village and over the fields of Belchers Farm to cross the river below
Chippinghurst Manor. This road was once an important traffic route to Oxford.
but appears to have lost its importance in the late l8th century. At the
intersection of these two streets in the village there apparently stood a
mediaeval cross which remained on the area still called ‘the Cross’ until
the 19th century when for some reason it was removed.
The
19th century brought great change to the village and landscape Little Milton.
Many of these changes were the direct result of the enclosures that took place
in the 1830’s and earlier. With
the enclosures came the once familiar hedge and tree rows, a scene that is all
too quickly disappearing. The loss of small farms upon which families toiled to
make a living led to a slow, migration of young men and women to the cities and
elsewhere in search of work. A small group village migrated to Canada. So
desperate was the poverty and unemployment in the village, that in 1835 the
Vestry Council that sat in Great Milton spent over £573, almost half the money
collected from the Poor Tax on relief to Little Milton. The suspicion of any new
machinery that might result in losses in work often brought about resentment and
on one occasion violence. In 1830 a group of rioters from Drayton, Chiselhampton
and Stadhampton assaulted a Mr James Wells and smashed his threshing machine.
Naturally the village was unsympathetic to the riots that followed calling upon
136 parishioners as special constables to arrest 6 offenders. Their sentence was
7 years transportation, the likely destination being Australia.
The
enclosures also had the effect of changing many of the cottages in the village.
Accommodation for farm labourers became so desperate that many of the cottages
were converted into smaller dwellings. The three cottages on the Cross contained
no less than seven families in what must have been cramped and squalid
conditions. Some farm workers had no accommodation at all and took to sleeping
in the lofts of barns. During the 19th century, few new buildings were built in
the village and most of these
Despite
the tremendous poverty in the village in the 19th century, several remarkable
buildings were constructed, the best known of these being St James Church The
present church is the second be called by that name, the first St James was a
mediaeval chapel (probably constructed of, wood), which appears to have
disappeared some time before 1780. Little is known of its location but it may
have been attached to the manor or in a place called ‘Chapel Heys’. In 1844
the present church was built on land given by Walter Long, Lord of Great Milton
Manor. It was designed by an Exeter Architect, John Hayward and built by George
Watt of Oxford at a cost of £2,700. The church was constructed in two stages,
the Naive in 1844, while the tower, spirelets (now removed) and clock were added
in 1861. In 1845 the adjacent Old Vicarage was built in a curious mixture of
Cotswold style. The attached turret is unusual, but certainly this .is one of
the finest buildings of its kind built in this area of Oxfordshire last century.
Little
Milton’s first school began as a Sunday School in 1818, however for reasons
unknown it closed within a few years A second school was started by the
Methodist church in 1827 in a house in the village. In 1831, this was shifted
to a new Methodist chapel sited somewhere on the Milton Manor estate. Numbers by
this date had already reached 60. By 1854 the village had three day schools, one
school being for infants, the others for scholars. The demand for education for
all ages became so great that evening classes were started for adults for
reading and writing. The need for a school building soon became apparent so that
in 1861 the present school was built. This was later extended to include a head
teacher’s residence in 1893.
Perhaps
the last building of any interest to be built in the 19th century was Wesleyan
chapel at the Cross, it is not a spectacular piece of architecture as the style
is repeated in a number of villages in Oxfordshire; however, it is an important
symbol to the non-conformity of this village in its past history of belief and
ideals.
Much
has changed in Little Milton this century, but there remains in many of the
buildings of this village, traces of history that tell of life long struggles of
men and women who built the village we enjoy today. Buildings are sometimes the
only history we have of many places, yet contained within this village is
perhaps the most fascinating history of all, the living history of experiences
and records of those people who have lived here all their lives. It is that
history that many of us I am sure, would be interested to know more about
before the older generation in Little Milton moves on.
REMINISCENCES OF LITTLE MILTON in the 1950s - by Janet Carpenter Feb 2008
I was
born and brought up in the village from the 1950s and my association with the
village continued mainly until my parents retired and moved away. My parents are
Maurice and Eva Hart who owned and ran Greystone Stores for about 30 years. They
arrived in the village in 1954 when telephone numbers only had three digits
(ours was 234) and car ownership was not the norm. The property came with an
enormous thatched barn, a set of pig sties and chicken runs and a stable
complete with feeding manger and hay loft. The house had no hot running water or
inside toilet and although there was a cold tap, clear fresh drinking water
could still be pumped from a well in the central porch. There was also a solid
stone bread oven built into the back wall. There was no central heating. Warmth
came from coal fires at the back and the front of the house.
Early
Memories
Supplies
for the shop were generally delivered from the wholesaler or from individual
companies by road but in the early days goods could sometimes arrive by rail and
I remember a trip with Dad to Tiddington railway station to collect sausages and
ham sent up by Harris’s from Calne in Wiltshire (near where we now live).
My
friend Sue’s Grandfather Mr Saunders farmed Belchers Farm when I was quite
young and I remember a trip in his land rover down to the Dutch Barns. Later
when I was a student I used to work as a potato sorter on the picking machines
on Belchers Farm in the summer.
The
Doctor, Dr Cox lived in the village at the big house and held his surgery every
day in the room at the top of the drive. It was a short walk from Greystone
Stores to see the doctor. Once when at my friend’s house directly over the
road I cut my finger fairly deeply on a sharp knife while washing up and was
whisked across the road to have it dressed.
In 1963
I remember the very heavy snowfalls. It must have been around a weekend when the
worst falls came because I remember watching my father outside clearing a
pathway through to the paraffin shed across the drive as he knew there would
plenty of customers in on Monday to replenish their stocks to keep their
paraffin heaters going in the cold weather. The banks of snow looked as tall as
I.
On
Sundays we attended morning service at St James Church, Rev Baker was vicar
then. After Church we went to Sunday school at the Methodist Chapel in the
school room at the back with Mrs Cooper as our teacher.
On the
site of
Our
favourite play area was the field below the Manor especially when the cows
weren’t in it. Here we enjoyed playing on the willows in the marsh imagining
them as boats. If we were feeling adventurous we took off on our bikes down to
the end of
The
School
I
attended the village school from the age of 5 to 9. The numbers of us were small
as few as 17 in total one year. In my year there were two of us. We had three
tables in the classroom bottom table, middle table and top table and one
teacher, Miss Murchie. Apart from the usual classroom activities we enjoyed
cooking in the School House kitchen and sports in the School House garden. The
bunny hop race was the most fun. I do not remember anyone needing to be severely
disciplined and rewards for good work and behaviour were fruit pastilles bought
from the shop.
At the
age of 9 we transferred to the Primary School in Great Haseley which was a much
bigger school with 80 children. The top class was taught by the head teacher Mr
Walker whose hobby was restoring old cars. We travelled to the school each day
on a school bus driven by Mr Bill White who with his son Graham ran the Coach
Business in Little Milton from what was the garage next to the Methodist Chapel.
We had the little old bus for the run to Great Haseley.
The
Shop
My
father always prided himself on high quality service to all his customers.
Although he considered adapting the shop to self service this was not really
feasible in the old building and so it continued as it had for many years under
his management. There were large tins of loose biscuits for sale in the early
days which were discontinued but the tall glass jars of sweets stored on the top
shelf remained until the shop closed. The orders of groceries were put together
by personal service either for customers who came into the shop or for
deliveries which were weekly over two or three evenings a week. He had a long
working day.
The
bacon and ham were freshly cut for each customer. The meat came in as a side of
bacon when required and Dad de-boned it, portioned it into the various cuts of
bacon or rolled some into bacon joints. The bones and end cuts were available
for dog owners.
Dad was
not averse to stocking any goods that would sell so particularly in the early
years he carried among other things paraffin for heating, corn for feeding
chickens, some hardware items including tins of paint and pots and pans,
stationary and greeting cards. Some customers were reliant on his deliveries.
For one older single lady Miss Mace in Great Haseley to whom he delivered
groceries, he would make special purchases when he went to Thame for supplies.
This included her underwear.
Another
customer Miss Trowbridge lived in the Lodge Cottages in Little Milton. She had
been a district nurse before retirement. She drove up the road in her old Mini
to do her shopping. She sat on the shop chair (which I still have) while Dad put
together her order and then had it loaded into her car. She was also a faithful
member of the Church and her gravestone can be seen in the top left of the
Churchyard.
There
were still remnants of some very old Little Milton families when we lived there
who had lived and worked in Little Milton for several generations. Notably there
was Mr George Mason who lived in a small cottage at the end of
There
was also a shop cat, Ginger, who kept the mice at bay, but loved the company.
There was a stream of visitors six days a week through the front door to pet
him. A bus rolled up outside every couple of hours with more people and once a
fortnight the library van came. He was known to get on the bus but fortunately
someone usually noticed and put him off before it left. He had first belonged to
a farm worker who lived in one of the cottages on the cross. He soon discovered
there was better company to be found across the road and when his owner moved to
Little Haseley to a new job, Ginger decided this was not for him. He made his
way back to Little Milton across the fields and the shop became his permanent
home. When my parents moved from the village he was still alive but very poorly
and died soon after the move.
And
finally…I continue to have happy memories of my village childhood and love to
return occasionally to visit my father’s grave and wander around the village
remembering. I am researching the past history of the village at present for a
local history project and would love to hear from anyone who has information on
the age and past history of their present home in the village – new or old –
or just your own comments concerning the above or the present village.